Working with products
The program (with the appropriate modules) can work with products rather than directly with parts. This allows orders to be specified in relation to products required. To work in this way a 'Product library' is required which describes each product or product range and the parts each product consists of. The program automatically calculates the cutting requirements in terms of parts for each set of products required.
Each product consists of several parts, fittings, and operations. Identify each product with a unique product code followed by the description, width, depth, and height, of each product. Enter the product details for each product which consists of all the parts and fittings in the product and the quantity of each used, for example:-
Product Description Size
WLL/PR1 WALL UNIT 1200.0 x 950.0 x 675.0
Parts Qty
PA/3 1.00
P/4 2.00
PA/5 2.00
BRACKET/K2 3.00
HINGE/8A 4.00
In this example, the product code is WLL/PR1 and some of the parts in the product are shown followed by the quantity of each part required. The final two items are some of the fittings needed for the product.
The product library can also hold sub-assembly items so that pedestal and drawers can be set up as separate sub products. Sub-assemblies help to reduce the amount of data in the library because several different products often contain the same basic sub-assembly.
There are only two levels; products and sub-assemblies. A sub-assembly cannot contain other sub-assemblies or products.
The parts and fittings are stored in the 'Part library'. The basic set up is to create a product library and a part library to describe the products and the items they consist of.
Custom products
Some manufacturers produce items which are customised to a greater or lesser extent for each customer so that only the style of the product is fixed; the overall dimensions, materials, and even contents of each product can vary for each customer. These are 'custom' or nonstandard products.
To work in this way use variables and formula when defining sizes and materials in the Product library. The advantage of this way of working is that the final details for each customer only have to be entered at the 'Product requirements' screen. This means that, for example, just one variable product can be used for a wide range of customer variations.
This way of working is also effective where product ranges have many similar components so a relatively small number of products can be used to cover a wide variety of items.
A 'variable' is an item which is replaced by the details entered at the 'Product requirements' screen. In the following example TOP and DOORS are the variables for the materials in the product.
TUDOR/1 Kitchen cabinet 750.0
Code Qty Material Description Grain
TOP/1 1 @TOP@ Long work top Y
DOOR/2 2 @DOORS@ Tudor doors Y
FT/1234 15 +SCREW 3/4in screws
FT/006 1 +EXTRA Inside trays
